noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A small spot or speck on the skin, plumage or foliage. countable, uncountable
2. 2
   a small contrasting part of something wordnet
3. 3
   The random distribution of light when it is scattered by a rough surface. countable, uncountable
4. 4
   Kind; sort. Scotland, countable, uncountable
5. 5
   A cluster of interchromatin granules in a nucleus. countable, uncountable

Verb

1. 1
   To mark with speckles.
2. 2
   mark with small spots wordnet
3. 3
   produce a mottled effect wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

variegateaceatomaughtbandbar

Antonyms

All antonyms

oodles

Etymology

The noun is from Middle Dutch spekkel; the verb was later coined from the noun, in the late 16th century.

Related phrases

speckle imagingspeckle-fronted weaver

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.